It was very satisfying, indeed, to watch Ohio State crush Wisconsin today, 93-65. The blow-out win was a fitting send-off to David Lighty, Jon Diebler, and Dallas Lauderdale, who will go down as one of the best — and certainly most beloved — senior classes in Ohio State hoops history. It also was nice to see the Buckeyes “deal with it,” to use Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan’s deathless phrase.
Ohio State coach Thad Matta has molded together a really wonderful team. It is staggering that the Buckeyes scored 93 points on the Badgers, who are one of the best defensive teams in the country. Before today, Wisconsin had allowed only one team to score even 70 points. But today, the Buckeyes beat the Badgers inside and beat the Badgers outside. Jon Diebler led Ohio State in raining threes, as the Buckeyes shot a stunning 14 out of 15 from behind the arc. Jared Sullinger, Dallas Lauderdale, and David Lighty also put up a lot of points in the paint, and the Buckeyes out-rebounded the Badgers as well. Finally, Aaron Craft played a virtually flawless offensive floor game, dishing out 6 assists while having zero turnovers. If Ohio State executes like that on the offensive end in the rest of its games this season, it will be a very hard team for anyone to beat.
On the defensive end, the Buckeyes shut down Jordan Taylor, who had torched the Buckeyes in Madison, and also took the Badgers’ excellent forward, Jon Leuer, out of his game. The Buckeyes can play a suffocating man-to-man, as they did today, and their offensive efficiency also puts pressure on the opposing team’s offense. When Ohio State is scoring on virtually every trip down the court, and often with a three, the temptation for the other team to come down and try to score quickly is difficult to resist — and often quick shots are bad shots.
The Buckeyes now need to put this very satisfying win behind them. They move on to the Big Ten Tournament as the number one seed. That tournament doesn’t mean much, except as a vehicle to cement an overall no. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes need to avoid injury, stay sharp, and let some of their back-ups play — and then they need to get ready for The Big Dance.
Typically, The Journey will follow three or four storylines each episode, with the different subjects woven together into a kind of tapestry. The show is granted exceptional, behind-the-scenes access to the players and coaches, to the workout rooms, the long bus rides, the timeout huddles when the game is in the balance, and the locker room jubilation and disappointment. Viewers of The Journey have learned about what a fine person Michigan’s Darius Morris must be, as he has dealt with the death of a close friend from a debilitating disease. We’ve seen the commitment of the Illinois student section, the Orange Crush, as they perform charitable work and then travel for hours to cheer their team during a key away game. We’ve heard Minnesota’s Trevor Mbakwe talk about overcoming his past mistakes, seen Northwestern’s Mighty Mite Iron Man, Juice Thompson, conditioning himself to play every minute of every game, and listened to Ohio State’s Dallas Lauderdale talk about his mother and the limitations imposed by her illness. The stories are well presented and told by the subjects themselves and the production values are excellent. The end product is riveting television.
Ohio State remains the only undefeated team in college basketball and leads the Big Ten conference race by three games. The Buckeyes now get a few days off until their next game, which is on Saturday at Wisconsin — a place where the Badgers seldom lose.
The Buckeyes are undefeated, 13-0, and are ranked second in national polls. The team clearly has a lot of talent and a lot of promise. The core of the team is four experienced players — David Lighty, Jon Diebler, William Buford, and Dallas Lauderdale — and they have played well so far. Those four players give the Buckeyes firepower from the perimeter, a player who can take the ball to the rack, tough defenders, and a shot blocker. And Ohio State’s freshman class — particularly Jared Sullinger — has made a huge contribution, too. Sullinger appears to be a complete package post player who knows all the post moves, rebounds well, and can dish when he is double-teamed. His classmates Aaron Craft and Deshaun Thomas also have made their mark and have given Ohio State both depth and a spark off the bench. Coach Thad Matta and his assistants have worked hard to experiment with lineups, spread playing time among the talent, and get the team to play tough defense, which will be crucial during Big Ten crunch time.
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